Dashen Bank and the Ethiopian Airlines Group have jointly launched an innovative service package dubbed ‘Fly Now Pay Later’ (FNPL).
The FNPL payment service allows travelers to book their trips without paying the full price upfront.
Yohannes Million, Chief Digital Banking Officer of Dashen Bank, said the service will be available based on its customers’ choice of a 12- or 6-month payment period.
“Customers must open a bank account at Dashen Bank and remain as customers for at least three months in order to enjoy this service,” he said.
Yohannes also emphasized that when customers go to the nearby Dashen Bank branch to apply, they are expected to present the necessary documents along with a guarantee.
The credit period for this service is set for six to twelve months, and the credit limit can be renewed at the end of the credit tenure.
Dashen Bank’s IT department has developed a desktop application that is integrated with the Ethiopian Airlines’ FlyGate application.
The Fly Now Pay Later payment strategy has increasingly gained popularity in the travel industry.
It “will offer customers additional payment flexibility and enhance the customer experience,” Lemma Yadecha, Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Commercial Officer, said.
“We have integrated our mobile app with the new payment strategy provided by Dashen Bank. We will further strive to make our system compatible with the best practices of other domestic banks as well.”
Ethiopian Airlines, through its booking system, will provide confirmed passenger flight bookings and services upon successful payment confirmation received from Dashen Bank through FlyGate.
To use this service, customers will receive a spending limit from the Dashen Bank branch and an SMS confirmation that should be entered into Ethiopian Mobile app to purchase flight tickets.
Passenger flight tickets can be purchased once or multiple times, up to the facility limit. The credit limit is determined based on the customers’ borrowing capacity, up to a maximum of 600 thousand birr.